Culture of Xiavia
Xiavia (Jsh-ah-vvee-ahh) Moons,Celebrations, and General Knowledge: * 1 Moon – called Dalmwezi * 1 Sun – Called Suryeil * 1 large planet in the sky – called Meereta (appears eroded in Dalmwezi year 30003) & the smaller planet - Aokwa * Winter Week (Winter Holiday) * The Day of Fear (Halloween) * New Circle (New Year, New Dalmwezi/Moon year) * Sweet Day (Easter) * Celebration of Food Day (Thanksgiving) * Lavender Day – day for love, respect, and worship. Handmade gifts of all kinds are given to loved ones. This is a popular day for marriages and reunions. (Valentines) * People in general consider the Moon & Winter & Lavender more important and beautiful. (Moon Mother, Mother Moon, Moonlight & Winter & Lavender are common names) * Spring Harvest, Summer Harvest, Autumn Harvest, and Winter Harvest (Winter Harvest is 5 weeks before Winter Week) * People in general consider honour and praise more important and healthy. People also consider growth, learning from mistakes, improvement, and not repeating mistakes essential to society. * Childhood/Fairy-tales Stories * The Golden Dragon – hidden cavern in a remote island near the town Retsk * The Adventurers – 5 adventurers who defeat a spider goddess * The Escapades '''– 8 adventurers who defeat the Dragon God Food * '''Honey Butter – a mix of honey, butter, and sugar * Hot Oil is popular * Grilled eggplant is popular in halfling areas * Cooked gecko & frog legs in dragonborn & lizardfolk areas * Grilled perch with honey butter is popular * Grilling cheese/Saganaki is popular * Vegetarians and Vegans are common in Elf & Half-Elf cultures that favour nature & animals over society * Dietary restrictions, disabilities, & medical dietary restrictions are always considered when dining & having company over * Spicy Cow’s feet is popular in Dragonborn areas while spicy chicken feet are popular in Dwarven areas * Owlbear meat is popular in rich cultures, a luxury as a substitute to Ox and Cow (steak) * Ube desserts * Taro desserts * Sweet potato foods are popular (savoury) * Gourmet Foods * Fey Deer * Fey Rabbit * Blue, Green, Yellow, Red, Black, Purple Dragon meat (very expensive, hard to catch & clean & prepare & make edible, not as extremely expensive as other dragon meats) * White, Pink, Gold, Silver, Bronze Dragon meat (extremely expensive, hard to catch & clean & prepare &make edible) * Beholder Eyestalk (extremely expensive, similar to Pufferfish/Fugu in that it must be cleaned and prepared very carefully to ensure it is safe to consume) * Gelatinuous (Cube) Jelly tastes similar to a sour Jello (very expensive, must be cleaned and prepared properly, luckily the cubes can be created for consumption in farms) Drinks * Cherry wine is popular in halfling areas * Hazelnut milk is popular in gnome areas * Rice milk is popular in human areas * Hard Cider & soju are more popular in Tiefling areas * Dark ale is more popular in Orc, Firbolg, Dragonborn, Tiefling, Drow, and Goliath, and Dwarf cultures while lighter ales are more popular elsewhere * Hard Liquors are popular in the Goblin, Tiefling, Human, Halfling, and Kobold cultures * Mead is popular * Types of Ales (Beer, Cider, '''Malt, Stout, etc.) '– Mountain, Forest, Winter, Summer, and Confectionary. Mountain is made in mountainous areas & typically more nutty, Forest in Forested areas & typically more caramel-like, Winter is typically ales with added spices & nuts & berries, Summer is typically ales with berries & other fruits, and Confectionary are specifically lighter & sweeter ales throughout Xiavia for celebrations during the Summertime. * '''Winter Moon/' Dalmwezi * Mead''' – specially made mead with pine twigs, cinnamon, apples, caramel, malt, almonds, wintergreen, and mint leaves. With the blessing of the Moonlight Goddess. * 'Snow Mead '– mead made with blueberry honey, blueberries, pine twigs, spruce, juniper berry, nutmeg with the blessing of the Winterlight god * '''Lavender Ale – specifically made with lavender, lemon, and strawberry. With the blessing of the Lavenderlight God. * Winter Bread – made with almonds, apples, cinnamon, and ice cream, and sprinkled with powdered sugar. * Moonbread/ Dalmwezimead – made with cream, mint, and dark chocolate, and sprinkled with powdered sugar. A dark bread. * Malano Bread (from Malano) – breads are typically more lighter & softer breads with seasoning & paired with cheese & butter * Kula Bread – breads typically more dark & firmer with nuts & paired with savoury & meat spreads. * Terula Bread – breads named by non-natives of the Terula & Cantsiumia area that are smaller & sweeter in comparison to Malano & Kula-like breads. Almost insulting towards these cultures in some cases in others such as an average Gnomish household would be simply what the bread is called, of course separate from their own typical Gnomish bread. * There are of course '''differences in cultures such as: 'Gnome and Halfling cultures typically have sweeter flavours, Elves favour seasoning & herbs, Orc & Humans favour saltier flavours, Dragonborn favour spicier flavours, Tiefling favour bitter flavours, and Dwarves favour saltier & spicy flavours. '' * Mooncake – ''in Mulan, Rashemi, and Shou (humans) heavy regions and families (mostly either a purple, blue, white, or grey hue in colour) ''Strong ''Drugs' * '''Moon Powder' – similar to taking 2 ecstasy pills, the user may suffer death upon taking more than a single dosage. * Spice – tastes like a good steak rub, the user becomes so high that they act normally, taking more than a single dosage could result in the user going into a coma. * Candlewax – not actual candlewax, got the name from its waxy texture and appearance and ability to be active by burning it above the nose. Inhaling more than the whole stick will result in possible death. Causes the user to astral project into a random plane. Weaker Drugs * Faith - similar to LSD * Stardust – similar to weed or cocaine but basically makes the user more happy & calm. * Fairy Fire – allows the user to temporarily see into the Fire Plane for up to 1 hour (completely harmless) HISTORY: The Human’s War/The Toledi War Between 42 to 1,473 years before campaign date there was a war (mostly) within the main continent between Humans/Toledi and other races. Humans (as well as a few Dwarves and small areas in proximity to yuan-ti pureblood communities) sought to take over Jova and other cities for their own race and colonialize the world. The (civil) war occurred shortly after but those fighting for the Humans were utterly defeated for their xenophobia and fascism and were greatly depleted in numbers, many were jailed, and many laws & new role changes were made to make sure this type of racist-fueled war or attempted take-over does not occur again. Humans are still prohibited from controlling the government in Jova and are prohibited from being the Luminaries and Counsellors of Kovisch. Ander Stormwind and many of the Stormwind, Chernin, Buckman and Helder families were the great contributors and those who led the Toledi War. After the defeat of the Toledi forces Stormwind along with other notable allies & leaders to the war such as (his sister) Amafrey Stormwind, (his father) Anderone Stormwind, Lander Helder, Fodel Chernin, and Darvin Buckman, were set for execution in the Jova empire Other races are encouraged to take a bigger part in society despite fear and xenophobic people and to be leaders in government. There has currently been no correlating problems due to Tieflings or Dragonborns for example being leaders. (Humans are not rare or common; the main good & neutral focused races are all about the same but more concentrated in the indicated cultures) Meereta (appears eroded in Dalmwezi year 30003 Typical Government: Socialist*(between Dobry, Nrab, and Dolyent views) 4 Main Empires – Jova, Canstiumia, Kavarvalia, and Repaho. Essentially handle a specific portion of the world for more *International* matters. '''10 ''diverse '' Elected Counsellors (specifically in Jova, similar to a president or prime minister) '''5 Luminaries (similar to a vice president) ' 2''' '''Dalmwezi Officials (best described as cabin leaders, of the Dalmezi cabinet which is essentially a Religion department in which the Counsellors and Luminaries refer to, know the most about every religion & deity in Xiavia) (Heads of 15 executive departments, 5 heads per department— the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs, *Dalmwezi/Religion*, Arcana & Magic, Race relations, Underworld relations, Fey relations, Planar relations, Adventuring & Heroics relations, as well as the Attorney General) Parties are split between Ventral (or forward, similar to Left Wing) Affront (or challenge/involve in entanglement, similar to Centrist views) and Obverse (or the opposite of Ventral, similar to Right Wing) Ventral & Affront views are most prominent with the Counsellors & Luminaries (Jova as an example) while Obverse politicians are still present not rare but uncommon (in the case of the Toledi War being more recent Human/Dwarf/Yuan-Ti Obverse politicians are not only forbidden but banned). Worldly Illegal Actions * Earth-like criminal offences such as robbing, assault, hard drugs, violence, etc. * Charming/enchanting/hexing/cursing/deceiving/altering/transmutating/use illusory magic on another person without their knowledge (4 years jail time; minimum) * Strong substances (drugs) such as Moon Powder but not weaker substances (1 year) * Non-regulated Alchemy (2 years) * Necromancy (10 years) | Resurrection, Raise Dead, Revivify and similar spells (proximity to when the person died) are not illegal, as long as the person is willing. If they somehow were not willing the person faces the 10 year jail time. * Summoning beings/items/anything from an alternate dimension or plane (7 years; minimum) * Any form of spell or magic that causes destruction of property, harm to a person, etc. (2-4 years; minimum) * Weather alteration (1 year) * Spells such as: Arcane Gate, Astral Projection, Banishment, Blink, Chill Touch, Command (charm), Contact Other Plane, Contagion, Demiplane, Detect Magic (unregulated), Detect Poison and Disease (unregulated), Detect Thoughts, Dimension Door, Dispel Good and Evil, Dispel Magic, Etherealness, Expeditious Retreat, Fear, Feeblemind, Forbiddance, Forcecage, Gaseous Form, Gate, Giant Insect, Glove of Invulnerability, Grease, Gust of Wind, Hallow, Hallucinatory Terrain, Hypnotic Pattern, Imprisonment, Leomund’s Secret Chest, Locate Creature, Locate Object, Locate Creature, Magic Circle (unregulated), Maze, Mirage Arcane, Misty Step, Move Earth, Nondetection, Pass Without Trace (non-regulated, not in defense), Passwall, Plane Shift, Polymorph, Reverse Gravity, Shapechange, Speak With Dead (without their consent, non-regulated), Spider Climb, Stinking Cloud, Stone Shape, Stoneskin, Symbol, Telekinesis, Teleport, Teleportation Circle, True Polymorph, Water Walk, Wind Walk, Wish, Word of Recall, Zone of Truth (non-regulated) All result in a minimum sentence of 2 years ARCANA: Arcana Background (arcana refers to given powers and natural powers) Given powers '''(during or after birth) – through otherworldly (Cthulu for example; warlock), through greater beings (a deity for example; paladin & cleric), through dragons (sorcerer) '''Inherited/Genetic powers – whether through dragons/other beings (sorcerer), family ancestry (any basic races), simple inherited/genetic ancestry, or unearthed (inherited, Psychics) Natural/Unearthed powers – naturally capable of developing arcanic abilities (any basic races), for instance a half elf may be a fighter with fighter & cleric ancestry (given or no powers) but is still naturally capable of developing and practicing to use arcana, unearthed arcana (natural by any race). While there are others that have magical abilities in their lineage that they appear in their lives at some point (noticed or otherwise) so for instance a fighter character with no powers could technically try to will their unearthed abilities or randomly happen in life during an emotional moment. Magic Background (magic refers to an encompassing, umbrella-like term for all types of powers & abilities) * Arcana (also Unearthed lineage) – Wizard, Bard * Fey Magic (Fey wild origins) – druid, ranger * Divine Magic (deity origins) – paladin, cleric * Mystic Energy (parallel to arcana but not the same) – monk * Totem Spirit/Totemic Magic (parallel to arcana but not the same) – barbarian and Turami human druid & ranger communities * Psychic Abilities (arcana) So, arcana is magic but magic is not arcana. ''Fey/Druid magic is not arcana but bard magic is arcana. '' That being said, they all ''fall under the Arcana skill BUT there is now a homebrew addition that allows the player to add another skill score (Religion for Divine magic, Nature for fey magic, strength for totem magic/mystic energy) to add to their arcana skill/roll if they are specifically analyzing the specific magic. For example, a cleric wants to remember some arcana history that has to do with divine magic, their -2 score on arcana can have a +4 added to it with their religion skill***'' Philosphy & Old Masters (first ones to become experts in arcana) Facts: * The (coming from evil Dragons) Dragonborns are concentrated on the other side of the world not because they’re evil or because they’re segregated but because that is where there parents parents parents parents etc originated from and many mostly making a home there rather than moving or something. * The Kobold, Goblin, Kenku culture area or the Orc, Giant, etc. culture area is not just these chaotic races necessarily it’s just that that’s how the culture and society became and where mountainous areas are. * Binding of magic * Psychics are an entire different class, they include different Forms: Clairvoyant, Empath, Telepath, and Telekinetics and are a normal part of society, for people who know a general amount about arcana. But, they are still unique and far rarer compared to Wizards and Bards for example. So, 1 out of 30 people have ancestral psychic blood (unearthed powers could come in the form of clairvoyants having better intuition, wisdom, and perception) Psychics – beings with inherited abilities to either see the future/past, feel another’s emotions, hear another’s thoughts, or move things with their mind Clairvoyant – (unearthed) better intuition, wisdom, and perception Empath – (unearthed) better wisdom, optional expertise Telepath – (unearthed) better intelligence, charisma, and perception Telekinetic – (unearthed) better dexterity and strength Category:Xiavia Culture Category:Food Category:Drinks Category:Politics Category:Arcana Category:History Category:Stories